While athletic director Joe Parker and other university administrators try to work out the details of coach Larry Eustachy’s exit, interim coach Jase Herl and the players on the CSU men’s basketball team are trying to move on.

It certainly hasn’t been easy.

“It’s been an emotional roller coaster,” junior guard Prentiss Nixon said Wednesday. “Ups and downs, from mad to hurt to, at this point, we just kind of get through it and be as happy as we can.”

Herl, the 30-year-old first-time Division I coach, said he’s trying to bring a level of “normalcy” back to the program, so the Rams can make the best of what’s left of their season. Herl coached the Rams to a 90-79 CSU win over San Jose State last week in his first game, which snapped a seven-game losing streak.

Herl had the team playing at a faster pace in that game. He plans to substitute more often to get more players involved and is doing everything he can to keep them focused on the game rather than the ongoing controversy surrounding the program.

“I want to go out here, and I want to be here for them,” Herl said. “I want to talk to them, communicate with them, help them become better players and better people, on and off the court.”

During Wednesday's hour-long practice at Moby Arena, players were laughing and talking trash to one another as they went through basic drills. Herl, assistant coach Willie Glover, director of player development Pierce Hornung, manager Mike Collins and graduate assistant Tiel Daniels were smiling as they offered tips and suggestions and kept the players moving through each of the drills.

It was just what the players needed while they await a resolution to the messy situation surrounding Eustachy, the coach they came to CSU to play for.

“It’s tough,” sophomore guard Anthony Bonner said. “I’d say the last two weeks leading up to that San Jose State game was the toughest, but I think we’re doing really well at dealing with it. Pierce, Willie, Jase – they’re all doing a good job of banding us together, letting us have some fun with it to get that off our heads.”

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Jase Herl, CSU's interim men's basketball coach, passes the ball to a player during a drill Wednesday at a practice at Moby Arena. Herl is the Rams' second interim coach since head coach Larry Eustachy was placed on paid administrative leave Feb. 3.(Photo: Kelly Lyell/The Coloradoan)

The first 25 minutes of practice were open to reporters. Media has not been allowed at practices since the fall of 2013 save for 15 minutes of the first practice this season.

The Rams (11-16, 4-10 Mountain West) have four games remaining in the regular season, beginning with a road game Saturday at Fresno State (17-8, 7-5). They believe they can make some noise in the Mountain West tournament March 7-10 in Las Vegas.

“We’re just planning to make a run in that tournament and just have some fun,” Nixon said. Prentiss said Herl has done his best to make the game fun again for the Rams.

Eustachy, 62, was placed on paid administrative leave hours before a Feb. 3 game against Nevada after reports surfaced he had assured players his job was safe during a “climate assessment” into the program. Athletic director Joe Parker, deputy AD Steve Cottingham and NCAA compliance director Shalini Shanker conducted individual interviews with the team’s players and staff during the assessment.

Eustachy had been operating under a “zero-tolerance” policy concerning his behavior since the 2013-14 season, when then-athletic director Jack Graham, who had hired the coach in April 2012, recommended he be fired for verbal and emotional abuse suffered by players and members of his staff.

Instead of firing Eustachy as his athletic director had advised, CSU President Tony Frank chose to put the coach on the “zero-tolerance” policy, which is believed to the subject of the latest investigation. Multiple sources have said nothing has really changed in the way Eustachy has conducted himself and run the program in the past four years.

Follow reporter Kelly Lyell at twitter.com/KellyLyell and facebook.com/KellyLyell.news and listen to him talk CSU sports at 11:35 a.m. Thursdays on KFKA radio (AM 1310) and 10:45 a.m. Saturdays on Denver’s ESPN radio (AM 1600).